Year in Review-August 2017

Photo Credit: Jane Casey
Our church hosted a 3 day Family Retreat. I love this photo ready for the processional. We had several joyous church services, sectionals, and lots of fellowship time where I was able to see many friends.

Melrose and I have been online friends for years, but finally got to meet at Family Retreat.  We both have had several moves and life changes since we first "met" and we have a lot in common.

Photo Credit: Jane Casey
For this church service, Lamb 1 and 2 were scheduled to acolyte. Ram had class and Lamb 3 went and sat in our regular seat for church. I was in the middle of a conversation right before church where it was getting pretty emotional for all of us in the conversation and I really did not want to interrupt the conversation. I ended up skipping the service and half way through I remembered that Lamb 3 was probably in church by himself. I was so proud of him for attending church all by himself in the pew. 

Lamb 2 surprised us by being in the Talent show. Our church  members had never seen the humorous side of him. He was a hit and everyone said it will be hard to beat his act next year.

My Aunt Lorene and Uncle Jim visited and we all went out to dinner one night. I hadn't seen her since Lamb 1 was a newborn.

I bought some books from the library for 20 cents and sold this one to Hyde Brothers that was worth $100 and some other ones that were also valuable, but not worth as much as this one. We ended up with a lot of credit at Hyde Brothers after spending a couple of dollars at the library sale. I kept many more books than I sold to Hyde Brothers though!

We went to my parents house on eclipse day. We had the right glasses, but it was not a total eclipse. I was appreciated seeing even the partial eclipse.

My dad had planned to watch the eclipse on TV so we only got him to come outside for a little bit. The Lambs watched some TV and came outside too.

We did the old fashioned way to see the eclipse. I remember as a child doing the same thing with my dad during a partial eclipse and I was not impressed at all. But this time I thought it was very cool.

I was so glad Ram's mom sent us the correct glasses. The Lambs were a little timid, but  all of them used them for a short time. I would rather they be timid and safe.

We used our sun plate for tortilla chips and our planet plates for snacks.

We also used the planet bowls for dessert. I had not done any cooking or planning for snacks, which is unusual for me, but we just stopped at the grocery store and bought some fruit, chips, dip, bakery angel food cake, etc. I tried not to think about how much snacks cost and focused on food that we could use our plates and our bowls and memories on this special day. Everyone loved the snacks!

One of my high school friends invited us to go to the zoo with her while she was home visiting her family. It ended up being a couple of high school friends and all of our children. She was younger than me in school and I think Lamb 3 was older than all of the other children. Lamb 1 did not want to go so I took Lamb 2 and 3.

We ended up having a great time without Lamb 1 bugging us that we were taking too long at some exhibits.  It was rainy so we only stayed a couple of hours, which was fine for the ages of children there.

Going to the zoo brought back a lot of childhood memories for all the moms even though the zoo has changed a lot since we were children.

Penguins will always be my favorite!

One camera was used to take a group photo and unfortunately it didn't turn out that great. At least we have memories from the day!

I got up early and stood in line twice at the teacher store this summer for a chance at a gift certificate. The first time I got $5 and the second time I got $20. It was worth the time I spent in line (reading a book). I used the gift certificates later for door prizes for a presentation that I made.

We were supposed to take a Sweetwater tour with Ram's parents when they visited in May, but the Lambs got sick. We finally got to Sweetwater in August to play video games, go down the slide, and get a treat from the cafe. So glad they are in Fort Wayne and so generous to the public!

Lamb 2 and 3 had got a gift certificate for the music store from choir camp so they had fun picking out some treats.

We attended a Sunday Tincaps game as a prize from the library summer reading program. The Lambs were excited that they gave autographs after the game. Although they are older and able to get their own autographs without help, it was challenging for me to have 3 Lambs getting autographs and only two parents to take their picture. We did get a couple of good pictures though. 

Finally in August, Fort Wayne got a Blaze Pizza. We went to the grand opening and all of us got our own free pizza. It was totally worth waiting in line. We read our science book while we were in line to finish homeschooling that day.

Lamb 1 and 2 had their first cross country meet. It was a huge meet with boys and girls divided by grade and kids came from all over Northeast IN. They started late because some schools couldn't get there that early. Then it took hours to have each race.  All runners are supposed to stay and cheer on their teammates, but some of our team left early this time as it was just taking so long and it was a school night. But we couldn't because Lamb 1 had the last race with 8th grade boys. It was unusually cool for August and I hadn't brought very many warm clothes for Lamb 3 and myself. Ram had class that night. We made it through. Each team gets in a huddle before their race. Our team prayed together during huddle time. Seeing this made it worth the hassle of that day.

I love that they participated in cross country with other Lutheran schools.

Lamb 3 chose not to do cross country so he spent many hours on the playground while they had practice several times each week.

Lamb 1 won this Illuminated Catechism as part of CPH's summer reading program.

My sister had a friend that lived in Fort Wayne that was moving so she connected us and they gave us some of the stuff that wouldn't fit on their moving truck including these chairs. I can't wait to get some pillows for the chairs for our porch for next summer. Getting stuff from them reminded me of what we did just a year before- giving away stuff before we moved.

Photo Credit: Robin Muench
One day we had a whirlwind trip to Kentucky for Winston's ordination. We went to early service at our church and then drove down. The ordination service was beautiful, then the best reception I have ever had at an ordination, and then we drove home and got home late. I was so glad we went. There were also many friends from church that attended. I know Winston appreciated all the support from friends and family.

Year in Review-June 2017

Photo credit: Steve Blakey
Lamb 2 (on right) began being an acolyte

Lamb 1 did a rowing camp for a week. The weather was rainy all week so they weren't able to go out on the water every day. But he loved the days that he was able to.  I am so glad they allowed middle schoolers to do this. He may be on the crew team in high school.

Photo Credit: Hyde Brothers Booksellers Facebook Page
We went to the 25th anniversary Midnight sale at Hyde Brothers. We ended up not being able to attend the Christmas midnight sale so I'm glad everyone in the family was able to pick something out this time.

Katie's book was released and I bought a copy of The Harvest Raise. If you haven't read the Anthems of Zion, you really need to!

Lamb 2 and 3 did a week long choir camp. The director was one of my sister's grade school teachers. The Lambs weren't thrilled about choir, but it accomplished my goal of giving them the basics.

On the last day of choir camp my parents and our family attended a small concert where they showed what they learned. It was amazing what they learned in one week. We found out they had attended camp all week with a distant cousin when my mom saw her cousin at the concert.

We went to visit my sister a few weeks after she moved to St. Louis. 

My brother-in-law was anxious to go to the City Museum with his nephews. There were a lot of slides and fun stuff to do. 

We all rode the Ferris wheel up on the roof at the City Museum.

The Lambs had fun at a city park.

Ram and Ewe with Pinocchio.

As a lifelong Lutheran, I had never been to the LCMS headquarters. We loved having a tour of the International Center. I got copies of this photo for our Christmas cards that I still haven't sent.

Aaron works at the International Center. He was in kindergarten my first year of teaching.

Lutherans with CFW Walther

Our tour guide had only given a few tours before our tour. Rev. Harrison was Senior pastor at the church where I began teaching. He is now the Synodical President. The tour guide was surprised when Rev. Harrison invited us into his office and spent about 20 minutes with us. We were very grateful for him to take time out of his busy schedule to visit with us. Ram was excited to see all his books!

I was the country mouse going to downtown St. Louis. I told Rev. Harrison that I did not sleep my first night in the city because of all the city noises. He joked that I should go to Stanley's and smoke a cigar and I would sleep well the second night in the city. I didn't smoke a cigar, but we had to stop by for a photo after that!

We all had to pound the gavel in the Board of Directors room. My brother-in-law had the most fun. I tried to think of important decisions that have been made in that room for the good of the LCMS.

It was interesting to see the KFUO station and they were generous enough to give us a bunch of swag which we shared with my dad as he often listens to KFUO.

 

 

Lamb 1 and 2 did two weeks of basketball camp. I wasn't fast enough to get a better photo of Lamb 2 getting his participation award.

We were very proud of Lamb 1 for winning Best Attitude award at basketball camp this year. They only gave a few boys out of the approximately 100 attending an award.

Lamb 2 was sick on his birthday so he never made a cake. He made a cake for his baptism anniversary.

Between pictures and singing Happy Birthday, more M&Ms and candles in variegated  colors were added.

A friend from ID came to an organist workshop at the Seminary so we spent an afternoon together .

Lamb 2 did a tennis camp. I thought it was a week long camp and planned to go early on the last day and take pictures of Lamb 2. When I went to pick him up on Thursday, he told me that was the last day of camp. Oops! At least I found out then instead of taking him on Friday! He really enjoyed tennis and I think he might have found a sport he can really enjoy for the rest of his life.

Photo Credit: Steve Blakey
Winston was the first son of our congregation to be baptized and ordained at our church in 125 years. Ram was a pastor giving a blessing at the ordination and Lamb 1 was an acolyte.

Lamb 1 and Winston on a different day than his ordination.

Winston's mom was a teacher at the school when I began teaching. We hadn't seen each other in many years.

Winston was in 4th grade when I began teaching. He was Lamb 2 and 3's Sunday School teacher last year.

I got a print of the cover of the new edition of He Remembers the Barren. I had it framed, but we aren't hanging up pictures in our rental house. I am looking forward to getting a permanent home and hanging it. The symbolism on this print is beautiful and meaningful.

The Lambs have enjoyed playing with my dad's old erector set. I'm not sure why Lamb 2 doesn't have a shirt on other than it was hot?

A better picture of the bulbs that I brought from ID and planted at my mom's when they were in full bloom.

Lamb 2 and I picked strawberries. Too much rain made it an awful year for Indiana strawberries. We spent a long time picking a few berries. I don't know if Lamb 2 will ever want to pick strawberries again. We ate a few fresh and I barely had enough to make one batch of jam. Hopefully next year will be better strawberries.